


Raffles's Gambit

by AJs Bunny (agentj)



Category: E.W. Hornung's Raffles series
Genre: Challenge Response, Gen, POV First Person, Victorian
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2010-04-15
Updated: 2010-04-15
Packaged: 2017-10-09 00:57:28
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 596
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/81283
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/agentj/pseuds/AJs%20Bunny
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Bunny watches helplessly as Raffles is unable to escape from a caper.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Raffles's Gambit

**Author's Note:**

> for [](http://www.livejournal.com/userinfo.bml?user=rairpair50)[**rairpair50**](http://www.livejournal.com/userinfo.bml?user=rairpair50)'s first round: table 9 random #3, prompt 1: Check

> ### Timeframe:
> 
> Albany; some time after CRIM (mention of rope ladder invention)

I watched in horror at the scene unfolding before me. Raffles had brought me to an empty warehouse in the middle of the night where I played my part by squeezing through a broken window and unbolted the door from the inside. From there we climbed up into the rafters to a small office whose window was situated to peer into another across a small alley.

"I've been following good Lord Amberley for nearly two weeks now," said Raffles in hushed whispers as he unwound his rope ladder from his waist. "He lets this townhouse to write solicitous novels during the day undisturbed."

Raffles used his makeshift ladder not to climb upward, but to span the distance between one window and the other. I would secure the one end, while his ingenious hook did the rest on the other. Hand over hand Raffles went over the crevasse. The window had a small balcony whose iron railing provided purchase for Raffles to perform his wizardry on the glass and slip inside.

It was this window which filled me with terror now, for Raffles was on the other side of them—and so was our illustrious mark! Raffles had done the deed and succeeded in procuring the items he had come to take, but now he was impeded from escape, for any move would alert his presence to the lawful homeowners.

Though I remained in shadow, I could see all that transpired. Raffles was so close yet so far, the only thing between capture and liberty a mere bolt of fabric. Behind him, I could see Lord Amberley and what could have only been his wife, considering the venomous words exchanged between them.

The curtain to his back, the pane of glass against his nose, Raffles was trapped, and I helpless to assist!

Twice I watched as the prominent figure of Lord Amberley strode to the window as if to fling it open, and twice he was drawn back by a shriek by the good lady.

I can no doubt believe that my face was full of anguish, but my dear old Raffles, standing so calmly between the worlds of freedom and incarceration, looked in my direction and flashed that smile that was so uniquely his and his alone. The smile spoke of adventure, and of risk. In that moment, come salvation or damnation on the morrow, Raffles's expression captured all that was of the man I had come to adore.

Finally, the interminable travesty ended when the lady struck her bare hand against her husband's face and rushed out of the room; he stunned for but a moment, rushed after her.

And not a moment too soon, for the instant that the querulous couple was out of the room, Raffles flung open the window and threw across the booty into my waiting hands. Then, with the elegance of a Greek Olympian, Raffles's fine-toned body wriggled beneath the span of the rope ladder like a precarious monkey.

Once back in his rooms at the Albany, we took stock of the night's victorious spoils. "Diamonds and rubies, Bunny!" said he, his eyes sparkling like the jewels he had stolen. "No doubt intended as a gift for another lady than whose company we were blessed with to-night."

"I nearly thought you were done for!" said I, breathless with relief of his narrow escape.

"I can't think of a tighter place I've ever been!" laughed Raffles, heartily. "Perhaps I oughtn't have sent that anonymous telegram to Lady Amberley after all!"


End file.
